More Music Video Inspiration

 After comparing all of the artists on the 'R&B Now' and selecting those which are similar in style is to my artist, I researched those who i think are relevant to my style. I Particularly liked Nicole Scherzinger's "Wet" Music video as it has quite a few inspiring aspects. Firstly i love the CCTV style shot which is only a small feature within the music video, however i do think it gives a different perspective for the audience to view the action. Another thing that I particularly liked is the use of close ups of un related objects, however going along with the 'Grungy' settings and Mise-en-Scene. I also like the use of sunglasses to conceal her face, however it also makes her look very glamourous.

The CCTV Style Shot

A Closeup of a lock being cut

Another unrelated shot to the lyrics

An interesting close up with an interesting
light and flare across her face.

Inspiration for R&B Artists

As i was watching television, i found an advert for a new album with the best R&B hits recently. I then googled the album to find out more information to see relevance to my project. The album was released into the UK on the 26th September 2011, and today is the 30th September, it means that this album is very up to date.

Track Listings

Disc: 1
1. No Regrets Dappy
2. Cheers (Drink To That) Rihanna
3. Heaven Emeli Sandé
4. Marry You Bruno Mars
5. Coming Home Diddy - Dirty Money ft. Skylar Grey
6. Let Me Go Maverick Sabre
7. I Need A Dollar Aloe Blacc
8. Bright Lights Bigger City Cee Lo Green ft. Wiz Khalifa
9. Free Natalia Kills ft. will.i.am
10. Spaceship Tinchy Stryder ft. Dappy
11. Down On Me Jeremih ft. 50 Cent
12. Wonderman Tinie Tempah ft. Ellie Goulding
13. In The Dark DEV
14. Black And Yellow Wiz Khalifa
15. Like A G6 Far East Movement ft. The Cataracs & DEV
16. Nobody's Perfect Jessie J
17. My Last Big Sean ft. Chris Brown
18. One In A Million Ne - Yo
19. Just A Dream Nelly
20. Motivation Kelly Rowland ft. Lil Wayne
Disc: 2
1. Don't Go Wretch 32 ft. Josh Kumra
2. Lick Ya Down Cover Drive
3. Wet Nicole Scherzinger
4. I'm Into You Jennifer Lopez ft. Lil Wayne
5. Don't Wanna Go Home Jason Derulo
6. Down With The Trumpets Rizzle Kicks
7. Who's Laughing Now Jessie J
8. Beautiful People Chris Brown ft. Benny Benassi
9. Hitz Chase & Status ft. Tinie Tempah
10. Buzzin Mann ft. 50 Cent
11. Super Bass Nicki Minaj
12. Party Rock Anthem LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock
13. Sweat (David Guetta & Afrojack Remix) Snoop Dogg vs. David Guetta
14. Don t Stop The Party The Black Eyed Peas
15. Pretty Girl Rock Keri Hilson
16. All The Boyz Duchess
17. Girls N - Dubz
18. In The Air True Tiger Feat. Professor Green & Maverick Sabre
19. Miami 2 Ibiza Swedish House Mafia vs. Tinie Tempah
20. Amnesia Skepta

I Will now analyse a few of the artists similar to my artist to see features that they are also including!

Audience Feedback for Lyrics

When I came to reading over my lyrics, I had a few good ideas of what I could include in my music video which would relate to the lyrics, however I wanted to seek further advice and suggestions from others.
I did this by holding a focus group with my Media Classmates, and i also posted a question on Yahoo Answers to see what other people thought.

Feedback

'I think that if you just read the lyrics without listening to the music at all, you get the obvious impression that it is from a females point of view, and she is singing about a male who appears to be very attractive'-My own opinion


'The lyrics appear to be based very much on his physical appearance suggesting that a lot of objectifying shots should be used when coming to create a video for this track'- Classmate


'The basic storyline appears to be about a girl looking at a guy and admiring him, however it doesn't look like they are in a relationship, she just fancies him'- Friend


'To begin with, it looks like she fancies him, especially where she says about his six pack showing, however then it says about him trying to hard, so girl power style could be a way to go'- Classmate


'Near the end of the song, you can hear slight giggles where the artist appears to laugh. you could incorporate this into your story line?'- Yahoo Answers


'I think the basic point coming across is: I really do hate when guys be trying to come up to you trying to be extra smooth. It almost comes off as arrogant or cocky.'- Yahoo Answers


'She says "way too SURE for me". Like he's too sure he's going to get with her. Its about a guy who's way too cocky in his approach. In the hook she says ""You act like you've already got the number" And she's also like "Am I supposed to you, be your boo?" - cause the way he's coming at her. I love this song.- Friend

'I think this song is about a girl who has noticed a boy who is showing off to his mates, trying to be cool in front of the girls.  I think secretly she fancies him but doesn't like the act he is putting on.'- Family Member

'To me this is a girl talking about a boy.  She states that he is loving himself too much (over-cool) and as a result she does not fancy him....but really she does.'-Family Member

My Conclusion
In My opinion, i think that most of the people that have given me a response gave a very similar answer, but i think that the one that summed it up the best was the last family member. 

'To me this is a girl talking about a boy.  She states that he is loving himself too much (over-cool) and as a result she does not fancy him....but really she does.'

Now that i know what my song is about, and also all the different ways it can be interpreted, I can fully start to plan a basic storyline throughout my music video!

The Lyrics for my track choice

(So:)
He Got Big Brown Eyes, So He Look Nice
(Ooh:)
Coming On Strong, Six Pack Showin'
(Ohh:)
He's Too Cool, For His Own Shoes
(Umm:)
Nothing Rude, But Way Too Short For Me

He Tryin' To Be
Extra Smooth, Extra Smooth
(Ohh:)
Extra Cool, Extra Cute
(Ahh:)
If I'm Supposed To Talk To You
Be Your Boo
(Be Your Boo, Be Your Boo)
Don't Come Trying To Be Extra Smooth

(So:)
He Got Line For Line Wasting My Time
(Ooh:)
Running Round Tryin' To Catch My Eye
(Eye:)
Disturbing My Groove, Tryin' To Be Smooth
(Ohh:)
Get The Boot

Boy You Can Go Ahead
And Work On Yourself Another Quick Romance
A Little Too Hot For Me
You Act Like You've Already Got The Number

Won't You Quit Tryin' To Be?
Extra Smooth, Extra Smooth
(Hey:)
Extra Cool, Extra Cute
(Cute:)
If I'm Supposed To Talk To You
Be Your Boo
(Be Your Boo, Ohh:)
So Don't Come Trying To Be:
Tryin' To Be Extra, Extra, Extra Smooth
(See He Wanna Be
See He Wanna Be Smooth)
Extra, Extra, Extra Cool
(See He Trying To Be
See He Trying To Be Cool)
I Won't Talk To You
Won't Be Your Boo
(Talk To You
Won't Be Your Boo)
Extra, Extra, Extra
Tryin' To Be Extra, Extra, Extra Smooth

Tryin' To Be Extra, Extra, Extra Smooth
(See He Wanna Be
See He Wanna Be Smooth)
Extra, Extra, Extra Cool
(See He Trying To Be
See He Trying To Be Cool)
I Won't Talk To You
Won't Be Your Boo
(Talk To You
Won't Be Your Boo)
Extra, Extra, Extra
Tryin' To Be Extra, Extra, Extra Smooth

Tryin' To Be Extra, Extra, Extra Smooth
(See He Wanna Be
See He Wanna Be Smooth)
Extra, Extra, Extra Cool
(See He Trying To Be
See He Trying To Be Cool)
I Won't Talk To You
Won't Be Your Boo
(Talk To You
Won't Be Your Boo)
Extra, Extra, Extra
Tryin' To Be Extra, Extra, Extra Smooth

Tryin' To Be Extra, Extra, Extra Smooth
Extra, Extra, Extra Cool
I Won't Talk To You
Won't Be Your Boo
Extra, Extra, Extra
Tryin' To Be Extra, Extra, Extra Smooth

Inspiration for settings- 'The Dance Studio'

Another main feature i have found that features throughout RnB Music videos is a dance studio scene. This is apparent in all three of the music videos below which are all directly RnB/Hip-hop style artists. This is a feature which i want to use myself using our own dance studio at school.



The Beyonce video does not use the dance studio as a main feature, it does subtly add it in in some scenes which again re-enforces the typical characteristic of a RnB music video. I Also like the use of black and white colouring throughout the video which is something i may consider.


Alesha Dixon- Breathe Slow's Music video consists of mainly the dance scene. This is an option which i could consider, however due to the nature of my song, a lot of the focus is on the male whom she is singing about so this style of heavily using the dance studio may not work however i do wish to use some scenes.


Cassies' video is another one which heavily uses the Dance studio with a lot of choreography within her music video. I like the style of Cassie's dancing along with the studio in this video a lot, and which to take inspiration from her choreography as well.

Location Inspiration- 'The Brick Wall'

The 'Brick Wall' is one location that i have noticed throughout a lot of RnB videos i have looked at. They often have the artist leaning up against the wall. The image this creates is very 'Urban' which also fits well to the genre of RnB. Here are some examples i have found:

This is a Photoshoot image of Rhianna where she is leaned up
against a brick wall.

A Photoshoot image of Elisabetta Canalis, Not relevant to RnB,
however shares similar characteristics

This is another good example of the use of a brick wall with
Beyonce posing for a photoshoot

A Screen Shot from Ciara-'Promise' Music video
Demonstrating the brick wall characteristic well.

This is a screenshot of JLS- Everybody in love where they thoroughly
use the 'Brick wall' concept in almost every shot of the video.

The JLS- Everybody in Love video containing many brick wall shots throughout the video.



After seeing these artists all using the same shot, i really want to use a sequence of different angles of my artist against a brick wall miming my song!

H&M advert inspiration

I Like the effect that the video consists of as it is almost like cross cutting, (Where you jump between two different scenes), but it is all the same scene, but being shot from three different point of views. I may like to use this idea when it comes to making my own video!

Inspiring TV Advert

Although this TV advert for Asos was clearly to promote the outfits the dancers were wearing, i still like the pace and cutting in time with the music which this video has. I also like the mise en scene and setting which is quite backstreet/hip-hop/RnB style.

Step Up Inspiration

This video is not an official video, but it is a film called Step up which includes a lot of inspiring shots of the actors/actresses dancing in which could inspire me for my own video. I particularly like the variety of close ups and long shots used throughout.

Challenging, Developing and Using Genre Conventions

How Does Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Into You" Use, Challenge or Develop R&B Genre Characteristics?

Characteristics Used
One Main characteristic of an R&B, especially with female artists is having a male actor within the music to be the 'love interest'. Jennifer uses this convention very well in her music video as she manages to keep the main interest on her, as well as pulling off the focus on him too. She manages this by using intermate scenes with the attractive man which is sure to sell to female audience members. For example, this screenshot below shows the male on the beach topless with Jennifer cuddled into him. These are the types of R&B scenes which sell money because they are relatable to.

Another main characteristic of R&B music videos is the use of performance (Especially miming/Singing) alongside a narrative. This works very well in Jennifer's song as the audience can get a feel for what she is really singing about. This is a very clever way of connecting to the audience easier, and Jennifer pulls it off well in her music video.

Characteristics Developed
The love story characteristic of a R&B music video is clearly shown through visuals of Jennifer and the male actor, however i believe the love story goes a lot more further than other music videos. other music videos by R&B artists tend to have the typical 'boy meets girl' scenes, however the use of such intermate scenes with the topless man and Jennifer not wearing much either adds a new dimension to the story which i think was aimed to increase sales.

Another characteristic i believe to be challenged within this music video is the use of colour, from Black and white, to a warm toned colour. In the majority of music videos within this genre, they usually use a standard colour throughout the video, usually black and white, warm colours or very cold colours, however Jennifer video contains many different types which in my opinion is developing the use of colour positively.

Characteristics Challenged
The constant extreme close ups within Jennifer's video occur much more than the typical R&B Music video although they do also contain a lot. I believe Jennifers video was challenging the use of them as there are close ups of a lot of different parts of her body, including her hand, her eyes, her mouth, her bum and frequently on her face in general.

Historically, R&B was created by 'Blacks' and was always sung and purchased as an audience by blacks. This meant that a lot of black culture is usually in R&B music videos even still. The choice of setting for Jennifer's video is challenging the usual settings such as clubs, streets, homes and cars by choosing somewhere completely natural and what seems to be deserted such as a beach.

Technical Aspects of Jennifer Lopez- "I'm Into You"

 

Applying Goodwins Theory to Jennifer Lopez- "I'm into you"

 

In this exercise, I have clearly researched into an existing piece of media text as well as exploring Goodwin's Theory further. After completing this, i have realized many aspects of the music video that i may want to use in my own video!

Jennifer Lopez- "I'm Into You" Music Video Casestudy

We have been set the task of choosing a music video similar to my own track of music to study in detail. I have Chosen Jennifer Lopez- "I'm Into You" as i think it is a very similar style of music to my track as well as it being a good solid video I can relate to and analyze.

Genre Characteristics of R'n'B

After trying to research what characteristics consistantly appear in R&B Music Videos, I didn't find any information so i decided to research myself. After watching many music videos which fall under the category of R&B, I created my own list of common techniques conventions.

• A Running Narrative of a love/heartbreak story
• Close-ups of Females- A lot of Objectification
• Extreme Close-ups in general
• Women Dressed revealingly
•  Some form of Performance/Miming
• A Male actor in female artist videos
• A Female actress in Male artist videos
• Expression of Rich and Poor- Usually jewelry/money
• Hand held camerawork
• Slow Motion scenes- (Emphasis on artist usually)
• Glamourous costumes
• Lots of Pans over the artist/Narrative
• A Solid dance routine throughout/featured in the video
• Contrasting lighting tones- either warm colours signifying love, or cold colours.
• 'Backstreet' Scenes especially  in Hip-hop style R&B
• An expression of Race- usually involving black/half cast actors

After reviewing my list of common traits found within R&B music videos, it will definitely help me add codes and characteristics to my own music video to make it more realistic.

Choosing a Music Track

Today, we were set the task of listening to all 23 Music tracks which we must choose from set by Mr Wallis, Our Media Teacher. I started from the first track and wrote notes for each track about the genre, how suited the style of music was to me and my personal tastes, how challenging the song would be to create a video and also how suitable the song would be to make a music video with the resources I have, For example a 'Rock Band' type song would be more difficult as i do not know a 'Band' i could film for the video.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO ALL THE SONGS

Before i listened to the songs, I had in mind the type of song I wanted. Prefrably I wanted a female artist, as the majority of my friends are females, and it would be much easier to source a female actor than male, and I also wanted a contempary song with either a Pop, R'n'B or Hip-Hop genre as these are my favourite genres of music. Eventually, after sifting through all the songs, I managed to narrow it down to my top 3 according to my prefrences.

3rd Favourite song
The song here has a very nice vocal to it as it has a slow tempo which gives time for good vocals. However this song has a very slow pace to it which was initially my problem with the song. I had trouble also choosing a genre for the song, as it doesn't have a definitive characteristics of any specific genre. However it does have the female vocals that I wanted. Overall, this is how i scored the song:
Vocals: 8/10
Music Tempo: 3/10
Good Genre: 3/10
General Suitability: 5/10
Personal Likeability: 4/10
Overall Score: 23/50


2nd Favourite song
This song has great vocals as they are quirky and unique, however it can be hard to understand what the artist is saying meaning that lip syncing would be difficult. The music tempo is upbeat and faster meaning that editing clips together in time with the music would be easier. The genre is a Indie which isn't my favourite genre, however I do think that Indie music would be good to make a video to. The suitabilitys is good as it is a female artist meaning I can easily recruit female artists. Overall, I like the song a lot.
Vocals: 6/10
Music Tempo: 8/10
Good Genre: 7/10
General Suitability: 6/10
Personal Likeability: 6/10
Overall Score: 33/50


1st Favourite song
The Vocals in this song are very very good as you can clearly hear what she sing as well as a good contempary feel to them. The music tempo has a good speed and i can easily imagine a good edit to go with it. The Genre is obviously R'n'B as there are a lot of characteristics which are easily noticable. They have female vocals which means I can also recruit easily. Overall, I really love the song.
Vocals: 9/10
Music Tempo: 8/10
Good Genre: 10/10
General Suitability: 8/10
Personal Likeability: 9/10
Overall Score: 44/50


However, I was unaware that each song was only assigned to one person, so my first choice song had sadly been given to somebody else. At this point, I asked if my teacher could source another song very similar to my first choice, and this is what he came up with! I am very happy with my song as it is the correct genre i wanted, as well as being a great song to work with and eventually make a video!
Heres the Final Song:

Typical conventions within different genres of music

Rock Music Videos

A typical rock music video contains many traits such as dark and grungy settings/colourization. Rock music videos also tend to express the real emotion they are singing about using close ups. Also, a lot of them are performance based videos with the band playing the heavy instruments to enhance the music.

Bon Jovi- "Superman Tonight"

Pop Music Videos

Pop Music generally tends to be very 'happy' and bright with their uses of colours as well as positive mise en scene surrounding the artist. They usually include a performance, as well as a narrative running along side. The costumes and choice of make up are usually also desirable to the public in some way.

Same Difference- "We R One"

Indie Music Videos

The conventions in an indie music video tend to be very similar of that in a rock video in the sense that they usually consist mainly of the artist/band playing instruments. The colouring of indie videos give usually a dark and mysterious feel to the video. There is also a lot of the time a narrative of some kind which usually contains more unique settings such as open and deserted streets or large empty rooms.

Adele- "Set Fire To The Rain"

Dance Music Videos

Within the category of dance videos, women are heavily objectified as they almost always are not wearing much! All the females usually look glamorous, and the setting is almost always a club or a party of some kind. A lot of the time, they use dance routines very much like pop videos, but more sexualised.

The Wanted- "Glad You Came"

R'n'B Music Videos

R'n'B videos have usually contain some kind of love story, and particularly usually a break-up or argument. There are also a lot of dance routines with women in revealing clothing like in dance music videos. R'n'B also contains a lot of expression of money, especially with more Hip-Hop styles with the 'Gangster' and 'Bling' style.

Pussycat Dolls Ft. Will.I.Am- "Beep"

Different types of music videos

Performance

A Performance based music video consists of the band/Artist literally performing the song. This could be in any place, venue or setting depending on the style of the band. For example, a rock band may choose either a grungy setting, or perhaps a live stage and audience whereas a dance music artist may choose a club or party, However Performance based music videos usually are in the genre of Rock and Indie, however most of the other genres include some form of miming song words such as R'n'B, however they usually have Narrative included alongside.

Narrative

A Narrative based music video contains a story or a journey with actors, and rarely the artist. The Narrative can be about anything, but often a story of love/romance and sometimes a breakup or argument. Narrative music videos tend to be slower songs, and especially R'n'B genres use this style.

Concept

A Concept Music video is based around a Concept/Idea, and are usually quite dreamlike/surreal. The types of bands whom may choose a Concept music video are those who are more abstract and creative as a concept music video is usually strange and contemporary. There is no specific genre who use concept music videos as many different genres of music use the idea in many different ways. Concept music videos are generally harder to pull off because if the idea is not interesting enough, the video can become boring to the audience, however if done well, word of mouth/Web 2.0 can help really boost views and eventually sales as the video causes people to talk about it and discuss it. 

Goodwin's 7 characteristics of a music video

Andrew Goodwin published a book after many years of studying music videos. The book contained his perceptions of music videos and what he believed to be the seven main conventions of a music video and the elements in which music videos have in common with each other.

The Seven conventions that Goodwin identified were as follows:

1. 'Music Videos demonstrate certain genre characteristics'
In other words, Goodwin identified that most genres of music had certain traits in which appeared in the majority of music videos. For example, you could say that boybands and girlbands having a dance routine throughout the video is a characteristic of that genre. A great modern example of that is JLS's One shot music video where they have a choreographed dance routine throughtout the video.



2. 'There is a link between the lyrics and the visuals'
For example, Goodwin meant that often, there is a direct link to the visuals depending on the lyrics. This could be shown two ways, either a direct/literal way, or an indirect way/contradictory way. Either one still means that the lyrics and visuals work together to empower the visuals.

3. 'There is a link between the music and the visuals'
This can occur in many different ways, but generally means that there is some kind of connected together. For example, the shots may be cut in time to the music. Often, the music and the visuals links are more subtle as they are created in this way.

4. 'The Demands of the record label will include the need for lots of closeups on the artist'
This is because when a Record label sells a song, it also needs to sell the artist as a package. For example, the mass audience may not purchase a song no matter how good it is if the artist hasn't got the likability. Closeups of the artist enables you to connect to the artist and believe what they are singing about which may help boost sales. However a lot of the time, especially with young female artists, they use closeups almost to objectify them and make them more appealing. A good example of this is Rhianna-Unfaithful where it includes many close ups of her looking attractive.


5. 'The Artist may develop iconography that recurs across their work'
This is a basic visual style that would run throughout their work to keep a trend. A good example of this would be Michael Jackson's Moonwalk which he included in many of his music videos as well as his concerts.

6. 'There is frequent refrence to the notion of looking'
This often happens in music videos where the artist will look into the camera to give a direct approach when singing as if they are singing to the audience. There are other forms of this such as Screens within screens, filming and cameras.

7. 'There are often intertextual references- mostly to film, other music artists, television and popular culture'
A great example of this is Taylor Swift's Love story which directly talks about Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, or Wheatus' Teenage Dirtbag which refers to the band 'Iron Maiden'.

After considering the 7 elements which recur in music videos, i now know what i should be conscious of when planning my own music video!

Our final Paramore Video!

Heres the final finished recreation of the Paramore music video of Misery Business. We are all very proud of ourselves as we believe we have done very well to get the recreation looking so similar to the original!

Filming time!

We have been filming our proper footage for the Paramore video! We started out by creating the mise-en- Scene! This involved many posters, choosing ideal locations, and finding some pompoms!! After many repeats of the video trying to create posters identical to the video, we had enough to make it look realistic.

The first problem we found was that the location that we decided on had a lot of disturbances as there were sports activities near where we were filming and other students kept needing to get past and walk across the set! However we had to take advantage of the time we did have and we managed to get it done. We also had a slight problem that there were 'too many cooks'! We had too many people 'Directing' the music video, and lots of opinions meant lots of discussions meaning it took valuable time up.

However after reviewing the footage, we didn't like many factors, so we decided to relocate. The second shoot worked much better and we got the footage we needed. This is a snippet of our recreation!

Original

Our Recreation

Paramore music video Mock

We decided to film a draft of the music video as this would give us a clear idea of how the real music video would work. After a four takes of Alice Performing the song, i was given the opportunity to play with editing it together into a music video and lip syncing it.

This is what I achieved!

I am really happy with the outcome of the mock up, as it showed me the basics of how to lip sync the visuals to the song. It also worked well in my opinion because i tried to cut the clips reasonably in time with the music. Although the video didn't look much like the real thing as we didn't film specificly to fit the original video, we just played around with the cameras and acting.

Our Preliminary task

Our Preliminary task has been set! We are going to recreate the first minute of a music video as a whole class. We decided that it may be sensible to choose a music video that we could achieve within a school setting. We had a few songs suggested such as:

• Thats What I Go To School For- Busted
• Baby One more Time- Britney Spears
• Teenage Dirtbag- Wheetus
• Leave (Get out)- JoJo
• Misery Business- Paramore

Eventually we agreed on Paramore -Misery Business as we thought it would be the most challenging to do, so we could all push ourselves to see what we could achieve.

This is the Video we are recreating!

The start of A2!

Hi Everyone! Back again, and ready to start A2 level media! I really enjoyed the first year of media, and i want to this year expand on my knowledge and skills i have learnt to create an even better portfolio.

Our task this year is to create a Music video as well as researching existing music videos and the conventions they all contain. I do not think that this task is going to be easy, but it should challenge my skills and hopefully enable me to achieve as good as possible!

Thanks!
Alex